My father in law, a friend and myself were forturnate enough to be drawn for a unit 50 Bull Elk hunt. The hunt is Oct. 8-12 and is a rifle hunt. I live in Texas (by Houston) but love hunting in New Mexico. Being so far away, I have to do most of my scouting utilizing google earth as well as maps. I realize this unit is mainly a migrational unit but am hopeing that there are some resident Elk. I am a fire fighter and my friend is an officer so we usually go to the local FD and PD hoping to find some hunters willing to give a little info. If any of you are familar with this unit and willing to pass along some info we would appreciate it greatly. This will be our first time hunting elk and we have always been do it yourself type hunters. We are not afraid to walk to avoid crowds.

One of the hardest units I know. We know the country very good and most of the hunts that we go on in unit 50 were unsuccessful. Can't remember where I read it but its like a 17% success rate. It is possible to get an elk there. In my opinion you got to be at the right place at the right time.

Well the dpt hands out 455 elk permits for that unit this year in the public draw, not including LO tags. So i would assume either there is a sizable population with plenty of huntable herds or they are trying to wipe elk clean out of there. who knows ... good luck

50 is primarily winter range, but there is a decent population of resident elk living dispersed throughout the unit. Get a hold of the appropriate BLM surface status maps (Taos and Wheeler quadrants cover most of it), as there is a sizable amount of private in the northern half that is NOT 'unit wide' designation, including portions of Pot (cerro de la Olla) and Wind Mtns, and some of the Montoso.

Don't get discouraged by some of the spotty info that has been posted on here, but likewise, don't get carried away with thoughts of animals everywhere and monster bulls...during the public seasons, there are simply not many elk on the unit, and age class bulls are extremely rare. The whole place is also drier than hell right now, not much green to speak of thus far

Drop a note if ya want, and I can tell ya about some productive areas that are generally overlooked...the southern end has some good stuff as well

That brings up a decent question. I have not used the "Unit Wide" designated land in the past because Public Ground has sufficed pretty good. I can see myself possibly trying to use some of the designated land but am running into road blocks finding maps that show these ranch location. Obviously you can see them on the E-plus list, but is that the only way to figure out where they are or am I completely missing a map here?

Not speaking for GW but you need to file a Freedom of Information Act request listing the maps you want. The dept will forward your request to the legal dept for review and if approved, The state Information Officer will send you a bill for "handling and copying". Once paid they will forward what maps they have on file.

Not all maps are there and none can be verified by the dept for accuracy. Citing the Title 19 requirements for landowner participation in the Eplus or SCR program gets you nowhere.

Been there, got the T shirt.

As an aside, I have been told they no longer mail the maps and require you to physically show up in Santa Fe to get maps.

Thanks Wapiti. I guess I was meaning the question to the whole group. Sorry for just singling you out GW.

Wow. That sounds like a nice and easy process. I guess the next best thing is to just give the landowners a call to ask where their property is located. After hearing that, my guess is that the Unit wide private land doesn't see to much use overall.

It is a tough unit which i have hunt it in the past i have take a nice 6x6 out of cerro de la olla there is a water hole on the top of the mountion. Well there was one there in the past if you come up on the back side where the burned area is i have see elk on the way up it is alot easier walking on the back side. Also the elk come up from drink water from the rio grande by chiflo mountion early in there morning they are make there way towards cerro de la olla and sometime towards cerro montosa so keep your eyes open towards the Sage brush. I hope i was a little helpful. Have a fun trip good luck on your trip post pictures if you guys get one.